Commercial breaks include sweet, silly send-ups

An image of actor Laurence Fishburne playing his character Morpheus from the "Matrix" trilogy with Kia's new luxury Sedan reflected in his glasses. Fishburne stars in the company's Super Bowl ad. COURTESY KIA MOTORS AMERICA

Join in judging the ads

What: Big Game Commercial Review presented by the American Advertising Federation of Orange County.

The Good, the Bad, the Bizarre

Robb Hart, of Santa Ana's An Ideal World advertising firm, offers his take on a few Super Bowl commercial contenders:

Heinz – "If You're Happy"

Hart's favorite going into the Super Bowl featured different groups of people singing "If you're happy and you know it" while trying to get the ketchup out of the bottle. He described it as original, simple and beautifully executed.

"It feels like an ad that's always been there."

Kia – "The Truth"

Hart thinks the carmaker copped out with The Matrix idea, borrowing the movie's elements whole-hog, including the actor, without adding a new enough spin.

"It showed a dearth of ideas on behalf of the agency that did it," he said. "Usually if you do it, you parody it."

Budweiser – "Puppy Love"

He likes puppies, but "there's a certain bit of cliché about a puppy."

"They compete against themselves each year," he said. It's getting to the point that a parody of a Budweiser spot and an actual Budweiser spot would be one and the same, he said.

Volkswagen – "Wings"

The commercial that imagines what it would be like if Volkswagen engineers got wings every time a Volkswagen exceeded 100,000 miles.

All right, which one made your eyes water a little? It was the Clydesdales, wasn't it? And geez, they paired them with puppies this year. Our tear ducts didn't stand a chance.

Oh, the game? Yeah, that was all right. But back to the commercials.

“The Super Bowl is, of course, the finest hour for advertising,” said Robb Hart, whose advertising firm An Ideal World is based in Santa Ana.

Irvine's own Kia North America channeled “The Matrix” for a sendup to its new K900 luxury sedan, one among many spots in the automotive-heavy commercial breaks that hoped to find a buyer in the some 100 million people expected to watch the big game.

And Tuesday night, the Advertising Association Federation of Orange County will be watching the commercials, and just the commercials, again at Dave & Buster's at the Irvine Spectrum.

“We treat the commercials with some respect,” Hart said. He'll be hosting the 6:30 p.m. event, which is open to the public, includes food (the organizer says she's ordered way too much) and a favorite American pastime – judging the best and the worst – all for $25 at the door ($20 if you pre-register online at aafoc.org).

“It's my favorite event of the year … without the sports,” said Hart, a rare Brit who abhors all sports, but, of course, loves commercials.

“My background is mainly visual effects, but the commercials I end up loving are the ones that end up telling a very good story,” he said.

Lisa Delaney, president of the Orange County advertising group, agreed.

“It's got to have an emotional tie to resonate,” she said. “Budweiser always makes me have tears in my eyes. It always does, and I feel like such a wimp,” she said referring to the ads with the Clydesdale horses.

She, unlike many, avoided spoilers or teasers of commercials posted a week before the game. To remain surprised to see the commercials at her group's Tuesday event, she said she planned to avoid any peeks during the game itself.

“I think I'm going to hang out with the kids in the bounce house” during commercial breaks on Sunday, she said.

Kia plugs into ‘Matrix' for Super Bowl ad

For the fifth consecutive year, Kia Motors once again vied for Super Bowl break supremacy on Sunday, this time with a throwback to “The Matrix.”

For its commercial, Kia cast Laurence Fishburne to reprise his role as the otherworldly father-figure Morpheus to convince a couple that the car company's new K900 sedan is both luxurious and affordable.

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